What Am I Missing?

[SDShannonS]

Okay, cool, I appreciate all the responses.

And I get that I may well have lost due to being out-geared and he may have had tactics that I don't get yet, and a variety of other factors.

But here's the part I still don't understand: in the time it took me to do approximately 10% of his health (about 15 seconds), he did 100% of mine. I get that an IB versus a Marauder might be a bad matchup for me, I might have been outgeared, and he might have had Tactics and abilities that I don't, and maybe I was destined to lose that fight no matter what. I'm fine with losing a fight. No big deal. But given that we both conned the same level (17), how was the fight SO incredibly one-sided? I mean, shouldn't I have been able to get him down to maybe half before he kicked my ass? At least something that suggests I was even in the ballpark, given that we both conned level 17?

What is it that would make up for that huge difference in damage output when we both display as the same level? Can all that really be accounted for by just gear and a tactic?

[Darosh]

Okay, cool, I appreciate all the responses.

And I get that I may well have lost due to being out-geared and he may have had tactics that I don't get yet, and a variety of other factors.

But here's the part I still don't understand: in the time it took me to do approximately 10% of his health (about 15 seconds), he did 100% of mine. I get that an IB versus a Marauder might be a bad matchup for me, I might have been outgeared, and he might have had Tactics and abilities that I don't, and maybe I was destined to lose that fight no matter what. I'm fine with losing a fight. No big deal. But given that we both conned the same level (17), how was the fight SO incredibly one-sided? I mean, shouldn't I have been able to get him down to maybe half before he kicked my ass? At least something that suggests I was even in the ballpark, given that we both conned level 17?

What is it that would make up for that huge difference in damage output when we both display as the same level? Can all that really be accounted for by just gear and a tactic?

A Mara in T1 has access to:

Spoiler:

- proc that lets him ignore armor penetration, while it heals him for a considerable amount
- a skill that ignores a set amount of armor when used while behind you
- several dots, one comes as a proc on one of his mutations
- an ability that deals a set amount of <magical damage> to you, whenever you use a melee ability or hit him with your autoattacks ~ there is no ICD on that ability, so it'll hit you literally WHENEVER you hit him with just about anything; resistances in T1 are sooo low, that any kind of magical damage will give you an edge in straight up 1v1s (mind you, this game is NOT about 1v1s of any description)
- detaunt that he can pop whenever he feels like it, which he'll - preferably - do once his selfheal procs ~ mind you he could even kite you with demolition spam, and his charge; if he is decked out he might even sport heal/AP pots, latter of which can be used to turn Flee into a makeshift sprint to add that little something to said kite capabilities
- a tactic that absorbs what amounts to about 5-10% worth of his HP (correct me on the value if you fancy it/if I am too far off) at that stage of the game, as others have pointed out

That is what I meant with <toolkit> in my first response to you; as someone that plays an IB myself... there is literally no way in hell, that a halfway decent Mara with semi-medicore gear could lose to an IB (of same/similar level and gear) in T1, given the disparity in toolkit. Selfheal/mobility is king in T1.

To emphasize: This is not a dueling game, its all about holy trinity (group play and realm coordination). The dueling/soloroam comes in at endgame, and needs proper dedication in terms of gear and overall setup - but even then, its by no means to be considered "relevant" for balance, if that is what you are trying to get at.

TLDR: You'll hit him for sub100, he'll heal for twice that while absorbing twice that every 5ish seconds on average - all the while he basically timestamps upwards of 300ish damage via your autoattacks and abilities (which run simultaneously) by virtue of Touch of Rot (the ability with the magic damage mentioned above), his autoattacks and his abilities.

[avalus]

TLDR: You'll hit him for sub100, he'll heal for twice that while absorbing twice that every 5ish seconds on average - all the while he basically timestamps upwards of 300ish damage via your autoattacks and abilities (which run simultaneously) by virtue of Touch of Rot (the ability with the magic damage mentioned above), his autoattacks and his abilities.

Darosh summed it all up pretty well.

Also, next time you have a "surprising" fight, I advise you to check your combat log to see why it all happened like it did (there you'd have seen his Absorbs, Heals, Mitigation and ToR procs, etc.).

P.S. By the way, we've been considering that he was using Monstro but to be honest, especially if you happen to be a 2h IB, just the Warped Flesh tactic would've sufficed: Corruption (TOU debuff) > Touch of Rot (if lucky, the DoT from Gift of Savagery procs) > Swap to Brut > Spam Impale (X Armor ignore) (Gift of Brutality procs -> faster AA) > Rinse&repeat rotation from Sav > Eventually the fight lasted until he had a Sever Nerve M1 available => over for you

[SDShannonS]

Yeah, I'm seeing the same kind of stuff in multiple scenarios so I still feel like I'm missing some stuff. I ran across a Black Orc earlier who conned level 15 to me when I was 10+7. He never self-healed, he just ground me down like I was nothing. Again, I did maybe 20% of his health by the time I was dead.

It is entirely possible that maybe I just suck hard, but there still seems like some element that I'm just not quite grasping. I seem to be entirely outclassed by every single person on the field of battle. And I'm not even complaining about losing - for example, I'll be wailing away on some guy and watching his health literally not moving even a pixel when some ally walks up and suddenly the guy dies in the next four seconds. What the... how... I don't... <sigh>

Maybe I just need to add a few levels, get some better gear, etc. Idunno.

[kmark101]

I think the answer to your problem could be how bolster actually works.

If your opponent had top gear for his level (for example best possible scenario gear for his level and best possible weapons for his level) then his bolster was much much MUCH better than yours (if you have some random green items that you outlevelled long ago).

Do you have top scenario gear for your level? (Just assume that most of the ppl you will cross paths are not new players and they have several toons decked out, so they know they need top gear even at low level to compete because of how bolster works in the competitive environment).

[SDShannonS]

No, I've just started playing so I have what gear I've been able to cobble together from quests or medallions from the RvR lakes. I've not yet done any scenarios so I haven't earned any emblems yet to get the emblem gear.

I guess I don't understand the details of how bolstering works, then. I thought the point of bolstering was to bring some measure of equality to lower level characters so they have at least some chance of contributing to RvR. If I'm doing practically zero damage to characters of equal level, then maybe I'm mistaken as to the point of bolstering in the first place.

[kmark101]

It's easy: it multiplies the stat on your gear. If you have **** gear then **** stats are multiplied. If you have good gear for your level, then bolster is great.
So for example, if you are lvl 6 and you have best gear attainable for level 6, then your bolster will be much better than a lvl 10 guy with lvl 3 gear bolstered.. hope you get the logic.

It's easy to get good gear for your level, as per scenarios are very rewarding. This system is great because it always requires you to have good gear attainable for your level and it rewards you with nice bolster. If you are lazy, etc.. and not upgrading your gear then bolster won't be that great and other players will have the edge over you.

[Collateral]

Where in the world did you hear that? I can't possibly believe that's how bolster works, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

[Sulorie]

Where in the world did you hear that? I can't possibly believe that's how bolster works, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

Bolster is indeed a multiplier to mainstats and armor/resists.

[Collateral]

Where in the world did you hear that? I can't possibly believe that's how bolster works, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

Bolster is indeed a multiplier to mainstats and armor/resists.

I didn't think it depended on the gear you were wearing, but more on the lvl you are.